George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe - Youth

Youth

Jellicoe was born at Hatfield and was christened on 29 July 1918 by The Rt. Hon. and Most Rev. Dr. Cosmo Lang, the 89th Archbishop of York, while King George V (represented by Admiral Sir Stanley Colville) and Lady Patricia Ramsay (at the time she was known as HRH Princess Patricia of Connaught) stood sponsor as two of his godparents. The others were: Miss Lilian Lear, Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey (Third Sea Lord), Mr. Eustace Burrows (cousin), Major Herbert Cayzer (uncle), and The Rev. Frederick G. G. Jellicoe (uncle, and Rector of New Alresford).

Much of his childhood was spent at St. Lawrence Hall, near Ventnor on the Isle of Wight; at a Broadstairs (Kent) prep school; in London; and in the Dominion of New Zealand, where his father was viceroy as Governor-General between 1921 and 1924. He was educated at Winchester College, where he was styled and known as Viscount Brocas. He won the Vere Herbert Smith history prize and secured an exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1936. BA, Modern History tripos 1939, but awarded 1966). He was chairman of the Pitt Club, and his tutor Steven Runciman became a lifelong friend.